Stevie Parle | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/profile/stevie-parle
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20 best summer salad recipes: part 1https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/04/20-best-summer-salads-part-1-crab-avocado-sichuan-cucumber
<p>From crab and avocado to Sichuan cucumber, seasonal dishes from top chefs chosen by Observer Food Monthly<br>•<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/05/20-best-summer-salad-recipes-part-2-yotam-ottolenghi-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-artichokes-green-be"> Read part 2 here</a></p><p>This exceptionally quick and easy dish was a favourite of mine at the now demolished and much-missed Bamboo Bar, a small restaurant just outside the Sichuan University campus. The serving girls there, who lodged like sardines in the attic at the top of the old wooden building, used to mix up the seasonings behind the counter, taking spoonfuls of garnet-red chilli oil and dark soy sauce from the bowls in the glass cabinet beside them and tossing the cucumber in the piquant sauce. The combination of seasonings, known as "garlic paste flavour" (<em>suan ni wei</em>), is a Sichuanese classic, with its garlicky pungency and undercurrent of sweetness: the same sauce may be used to dress fresh broad beans, thinly sliced cooked pork (perhaps mixed with fine slivers of carrot and Asian radish), boiled pork dumplings or wontons, and many other ingredients. You may use sweet, aromatic soy sauce instead of light soy sauce if you have it in stock.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/04/20-best-summer-salads-part-1-crab-avocado-sichuan-cucumber">Continue reading...</a>SaladSummer food and drinkLife and styleChefsVegetablesFood & drinkMon, 04 Aug 2014 07:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/04/20-best-summer-salads-part-1-crab-avocado-sichuan-cucumberPhotograph: Jean Cazals for Observer Food MonthlyFuchsia Dunlop’s smacked cucumber in garlicky sauce. Photograph: Jean Cazals for Observer Food MonthlyPhotograph: Jean Cazals for Observer Food MonthlyFuchsia Dunlop’s smacked cucumber in garlicky sauce. Photograph: Jean Cazals for Observer Food MonthlyFuchsia Dunlop, David Tanis, Stevie Parle, Nigel Slater, Fergus Henderson2014-08-04T07:00:00ZRecipes for under £5: Moroccan chickpea stew with fried egg brik and cucumber saladhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/19/recipes-under-5-chickpea-stew
Dock Kitchen chef Stevie Parle put his favourite things together for some budget comfort food<p><em>In its Eat Well for Less series, OFM asked 10 chefs to make a meal for four whose ingredients cost £5 or less – barring items that would already be in the household cupboard, such as olive oil, soy sauce, dried herbs and spices.</em></p><p>I have to hold my hands up: this is a bit of a make-believe dish as I have just put two of my favourite things together: chickpea curry and crunchy egg brik. This is perfect if you're feeling a bit out of pocket and need something quick, comforting and nourishing. It's balanced, protein-rich, and so delicious you won't notice the absence of meat. I'm a fan of tinned chickpeas; of all pulses they suffer least from the canning process and are extremely cheap.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/19/recipes-under-5-chickpea-stew">Continue reading...</a>Vegetarian food and drinkFood & drinkMiddle Eastern food and drinkLife and styleSat, 19 Jan 2013 21:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/19/recipes-under-5-chickpea-stewPhotograph: Pål Hansen/the Observer Food MonthlyStevie Parle of Dock Kitchen. Photograph: Pål Hansen for Observer Food MonthlyPhotograph: Pål Hansen/the Observer Food MonthlyStevie Parle of Dock Kitchen. Photograph: Pål Hansen for Observer Food MonthlyStevie Parle2013-01-19T21:00:00ZStevie Parle's artichoke, broad beans and peashttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2010/apr/06/gardens
A fresh taste of spring from the Dock Kitchen cook<p>Spring has sprung (at least in Sicily). It was with great excitement that I greeted the arrival of the first boxes of peas and broad beans coming over from the market in Milan from our Italian buyer (<a href="http://www.natoora.co.uk/shop/">www.natoora.co.uk</a>). The question was what to do with these delicious newcomers to our kitchen. Tasting the broad beans revealed that, while small enough, they were not suitable to serve still in their pods with a hunk of sheeps milk cheese, my favourite way to eat the first beans of the year.</p><p>Instead the broad beans found there way into a delicious mixture of yoghurt, cumin, garlic, cous-cous and coriander. I loosened the mixture with some of the whey from the labne I was making from the excess home made yoghurt, giving the dish a lovely acidic lift and allowing the flavour of the broad beans a bit of relief from the rich, garlicky yoghurt. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2010/apr/06/gardens">Continue reading...</a>GardensTue, 06 Apr 2010 15:46:39 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2010/apr/06/gardensStevie Parle2010-04-06T15:46:39ZStevie Parle's perfect quince crumblehttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/oct/29/allotments-gardens
The Dock Kitchen cook on a favourite autumn fruit<p>This week in <a href="http://www.themoveablekitchen.co.uk/">my restaurant</a> I have been buying big boxes of downy quinces from Provence, southern France. They are beautiful, large, perfumed fruits that, when cooked for a long time turns a deep, luxurious orange red.</p><p>The smaller more common quince in England grows on a spiky bush that has beautiful orange blossom. This small-fruited quince is excellent, too. Though not as fleshy as its larger cousin it is often made into quince jelly. I have never been a great one for quince jelly, my family love it though. Made from the fruit at my grandpa's house my mum makes jelly with twigs of rosemary in. They love to eat it with roast lamb.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/oct/29/allotments-gardens">Continue reading...</a>AllotmentsGardensGardening adviceOrganic gardeningThu, 29 Oct 2009 09:30:52 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/oct/29/allotments-gardensStevie Parle2009-10-29T09:30:52ZStevie Parle's perfect damson ripple ice-creamhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/oct/08/allotments-gardens
Damson jams, syrups, pastes and ripple ice-cream from the former River Cafe cook<p>The beautiful purple fruits, the heavy boughs of the laden trees, the short season and the delicious deep indigo flavour of this lovely little plum make the damson one of my favourite fruits. Its roots are more exotic than you might imagine, the clue is in its latin name – <em>prunum damascenum</em> – Damascus plum.</p><p>First cultivated in Syria and brought to Britain by the Romans, I imagine it was used in all sorts of different ways, from wine to dyeing clothes (many of my garments inadvertently dyed eating delicious damson dishes)</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/oct/08/allotments-gardens">Continue reading...</a>AllotmentsGardensGardening adviceOrganic gardeningThu, 08 Oct 2009 14:41:21 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/oct/08/allotments-gardensStevie Parle2009-10-08T14:41:21ZStevie Parle's perfect pickled beanshttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/sep/15/allotments-gardens
Our River Cafe cook has the answer to your autumn glut<p>Green Beans grow well in the UK and seem to be particularly prolific this year so I thought it might be helpful to know a few different ways to cook them.</p><p>As mine get bigger and I get a little more jaded, I tend to blanche them briefly and then braise them by frying a little garlic, adding fennel seeds and dried chili, perhaps a little parsley, then throwing in my beans with a little water and letting them cook slowly until they are quite soft.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/sep/15/allotments-gardens">Continue reading...</a>AllotmentsGardensGardening adviceOrganic gardeningRiver CaféTue, 15 Sep 2009 08:07:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/sep/15/allotments-gardensStevie Parle2009-09-15T08:07:23ZStevie Parle's perfect fried green tomatoeshttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/aug/14/allotments-organicgardening
Our River Cafe cook has delicious answers to your unripe fruit<p>For a year that started so well, the recent monsoon-like rain has finished off many mature tomato plants. Tragic as it is at least you can eat the green tomatoes. There are lots of different recipes, though generally I leave the chutney-making to those more passionate about jars of vinegary mushy brown stuff to eat with cheese.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/aug/14/allotments-organicgardening">Continue reading...</a>AllotmentsOrganic gardeningGardening adviceGardensRiver CaféFri, 14 Aug 2009 10:11:59 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/aug/14/allotments-organicgardeningStevie Parle2009-08-14T10:11:59ZStevie Parle's perfect borlotti beanshttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/aug/04/gardens-gardeningadvice
River Cafe cook Stevie Parle's secret to cooking the world's most beautiful bean<p>Borlotti beans with their Missoni-like jackets are so beautiful it seems almost surprising that they are so delicious.</p><p>It has to be said that they are not easy to grow. In my experience of growing borlotti in England it is difficult to get them to ripen into nice plump beans (the beans, when ripe show no sign of green, are quite round and mottled white). Does anyone have any growing tips?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/aug/04/gardens-gardeningadvice">Continue reading...</a>GardensGardening adviceOrganic gardeningRiver CaféTue, 04 Aug 2009 13:36:47 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/aug/04/gardens-gardeningadviceStevie Parle2009-08-04T13:36:47ZStevie Parle's perfect courgetteshttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jul/15/gardens-gardeningadvice
Summery Cime di Zucca from River Cafe cook Stevie Parle<p>At this time of year courgettes provide many a meal. Picked small and firm they are so delicious that you can slice them thinly, dress them with oil and lemon and eat them raw. When they get a little larger you can cook them in a fantastic variety of ways. Chopped up and slowly cooked with olive oil garlic mint and basil they make a lovely mush on toast. Boiled whole, drained chopped up and marinated is great also. You can even roast a courgette like an autumn squash.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jul/15/gardens-gardeningadvice">Continue reading...</a>GardensGardening adviceOrganic gardeningRiver CaféThu, 16 Jul 2009 10:34:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jul/15/gardens-gardeningadviceStevie Parle2009-07-16T10:34:01ZStevie Parle's perfect cherry focacciahttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jun/26/gardeningadvice-gardens
River Cafe cook Stevie Parle bakes with a favourite fruit<p>I adore cherry trees. Their beautiful blossoms herald the first of spring and the delicious fruit the first of the real summer and the solstice. When I lived in Japan it seemed that the whole year was geared up just to see the <em>sakura </em>(cherry blossoms). 'Golden Week' is the only national holiday of the year, lasting for a week and is specifically so that everybody can go to <em>hanami</em> (cherry blossom watching) parties. People camp out under the best trees so that when night falls they can light lanterns and sit under the tree drinking, talking and watching the blossoms fall.</p><p>It seems only right that such a fleetingly beautiful blossom should produce such a fine and tempting fruit. From the black, gum-dying, provencal cherries to the mouth-scrunchingly sour morello all are welcome at my table or pot. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jun/26/gardeningadvice-gardens">Continue reading...</a>Gardening adviceGardensOrganic gardeningRiver CaféFri, 26 Jun 2009 08:04:18 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jun/26/gardeningadvice-gardensStevie Parle2009-06-26T08:04:18ZStevie Parle's perfect potatoes and poorihttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jun/12/gardeningadvice-gardens
River Cafe cook Stevie Parle on the secret to aloo saag<p>I am feeling incredibly proud. My potatoes are ready! As they are grown in a bag on my pontoon in the Thames I didn't really expect they would ever grow. But grow they have. A delicious nutty variety of slightly floury potato from Bologna, called biscotto, I think. <br>In slight defiance of my Irish heritage my favourite potato recipe is this incredibly simple aloo saag taught me by my friend Avi from Karnataka in southern India.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jun/12/gardeningadvice-gardens">Continue reading...</a>Gardening adviceGardensRiver CaféFri, 12 Jun 2009 10:29:26 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jun/12/gardeningadvice-gardensStevie Parle2009-06-12T10:29:26ZStevie Parle's life and thymeshttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/may/29/gardens-gardeningadvice
River cafe cook Stevie Parle on the secret to herb recipes<p>I love herbs. Growing them, picking, chopping, tearing, pounding and frying them makes me happy. </p><p>I recently decided to never again buy supermarket herbs. I hate the little plastic packets and try to grow all the herbs I need on the deck of my boat - occasionally resorting to the proper big bunches of parsley sold in the Arabic shops close by. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/may/29/gardens-gardeningadvice">Continue reading...</a>GardensGardening adviceOrganic gardeningRiver CaféFri, 29 May 2009 08:08:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/may/29/gardens-gardeningadviceStevie Parle2009-05-29T08:08:00ZStevie Parle's perfect broad beanshttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/may/08/gardens-organicgardening
River Cafe chef Stevie Parle cooks up his favourite Moroccan feast<p>While Allan and Howard's broad beans seem to have pods, mine are only in flower. It is nonetheless exciting as broad beans are one of the best things to grow yourself because freshness really matters. I love to eat them raw with pecorino and black pepper and can't wait to head to the allotment with my cheese in my bag and sit in the sun enjoying this ancient combination. </p><p>Try to pick your broad beans when they are small and tender, do not peel off the skin unless they have grown too large. Often raw beans are smashed in a pestle and mortar with a little garlic, mint, basil, pecorino, olive oil and lemon juice – an excellent antipasto on bruschetta with crudo ham.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/may/08/gardens-organicgardening">Continue reading...</a>GardensOrganic gardeningGardening adviceRiver CaféFri, 08 May 2009 12:24:46 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/may/08/gardens-organicgardeningStevie Parle2009-05-08T12:24:46ZStevie Parle's perfect rhubarb triflehttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/apr/09/gardeningadvice-gardens1
Our River Cafe cook Stevie Parle has a taste for trifle<p>Earlier in the year the pretty pink strands of 'champagne' rhubarb were in the shops, this is the first forced rhubarb and is welcome because it arrives so early from the big heated barns in Yorkshire. I don't actually like it that much and am always pleased when proper thick green and pink rhubarb arrives, I love the way it cooks to a beautiful deep glossy colour and is rather an unpopular fruit.</p><p>Strangely, I still remember a poem I learnt at school</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/apr/09/gardeningadvice-gardens1">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkOrganic gardeningGardensLife and styleRiver CaféThu, 09 Apr 2009 10:27:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/apr/09/gardeningadvice-gardens1Stevie Parle2009-04-09T10:27:04ZStevie Parle's perfect pastahttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/mar/25/gardens-gardeningadvice
River Cafe cook Stevie Parle's masterclass on home-made orechiette with purple sprouting broccoli<p>Our plot is full of signs of new life though nothing is yet ready for the pot. Walking around the allotments I see the deep purple tops of broccoli on other people's patches. I feel a little jealous but luckily the farmers market provides me with a beautiful bunch of purple broccoli and I head home to make my favourite pasta of the year: broccoli and orechiette.<br></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/mar/25/gardens-gardeningadvice">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkGardensGardening adviceOrganic gardeningRiver CaféPastaWed, 25 Mar 2009 08:49:20 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/mar/25/gardens-gardeningadviceStevie Parle2009-03-25T08:49:20ZSea Kale tempurahttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/mar/02/blogpost
The River Cafe's Stevie Parle and his delicious recipe for Sea Kale tempura<p>As gardeners and cooks we are very lucky. When everyone else is despairing, feeling that winter still reigns, we can see, and eat, the first signs of spring. For me one of these rays of hope is the first forced sea-kale (crambe maritama). It comes with the snowdrops and stays almost until the asparagus arrives. <br>Sea-kale is one of the few vegetables truly native to the British Isles and grows wild along the English coast just above the high tide mark of shingle beaches. As you can see from the beautiful picture by Howard Sooley the first wild shoots are a vivid purple colour. Hundreds of years ago people would pile the shingle up around the crowns in early spring, depriving them of light to make them grow pale and tender. Successive leaves, if they are not blanched (etiolated), become a metallic purple-ish green. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/mar/02/blogpost">Continue reading...</a>Life and styleRiver CaféTue, 03 Mar 2009 15:13:50 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/mar/02/blogpostPhotograph: Stevie Parle/ObserverSea Kale tempura with Testuuyiu dipping saucePhotograph: Stevie Parle/ObserverSea Kale tempura with Testuuyiu dipping sauceStevie Parle2009-03-03T15:13:50ZKarma chameleonhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/feb/11/gardens-gardeningadvice
In the third of his brilliant cookery series, River Cafe chef Stevie Parle unlocks the secret to perfect Keralan curry<p>My curry leaf plant is one of my favourite things. Nothing but the exotic, delicate, smell of a crushed leaf can transport me so successfully to India. I bought the plant a few years ago online from the excellent <a href="http://www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk/">Poyntzfield Nursery </a>in Scotland. It has been reasonably easy to care for once I realized that it doesn't like too much water and needs the sunniest of inside spots. </p><p>The curry leaf looks beautiful between my kaffir lime and my cinnamon tree in front of the big windows to the deck of the barge. Whilst they are all pretty dormant in the winter I think on a sunny summer's day they believe they are in the tropics, and in the curry leaf produces pretty little white flowers. I will repot it soon as I think this year some serious growing is on the cards.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/feb/11/gardens-gardeningadvice">Continue reading...</a>GardensGardening adviceRiver CaféWed, 11 Feb 2009 12:57:24 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/feb/11/gardens-gardeningadviceStevie Parle2009-02-11T12:57:24ZRoots rockhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jan/28/gardeningadvice-gardens
In the second dispatch from his new seasonal cookery series, River Cafe chef Stevie Parle gives the secret to perfect celeriac<p>Celeriac is a strange sort of a vegetable – far from handsome or glamorous, it is in fact the overgrown root of a celery. Like many winter vegetables what celeriac really enjoys is the frost, and it has recently had that in record quantities. Frost does something great to both brassicas and roots. At the River Café, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/03/restaurants.foodanddrink">Rose [Gray]</a> wont' let us buy any of these vegetables until a really cold spell has hit. The frost sweetens them up and changes them texturally. Waiting for vegetables to come really into season gives your cooking year such variation, and the discipline allows you to see each new arrival in its best light.</p><p>Because celeriac doesn't visibly change much when kept for ages people think it lasts well. But it doesn't. It needs to be fresh. Straight from the ground, the smell when you cut into it is of delicious earthy celery, when old it hardly smells at all.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jan/28/gardeningadvice-gardens">Continue reading...</a>Gardening adviceGardensOrganic gardeningRiver CaféWed, 28 Jan 2009 10:02:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jan/28/gardeningadvice-gardensStevie Parle2009-01-28T10:02:23ZCook's tourhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jan/14/gardeningadvice-gardens
In the first of a brilliant new cookery series, River Cafe chef Stevie Parle makes the case for exotic cauliflower<p>This time of year can be tricky for the cook. The garden or plot tends to be pretty bare, but somewhere in the frost you may uncover a handsome cauliflower. After Christmas you really want to completely change the type of food you are eating, but when you get back into the kitchen you see the same old wintry produce and can hear them whispering chestnuts and bacon. It's best to resist. I generally to take my cooking a little further east in January </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jan/14/gardeningadvice-gardens">Continue reading...</a>Gardening adviceGardensRiver CaféWed, 14 Jan 2009 13:02:12 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/jan/14/gardeningadvice-gardensStevie Parle2009-01-14T13:02:12Z